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November 16, 2006 Minutes Town of Lexington Appropriation Committee November 16, 2006 Place and time: Town Office Building, Selectmen’s Meeting Room, 7:30 p.m. for Budget Summit Meeting, then continued in Room G-15 Members present: Al Levine (Chair), Deborah Brown (Vice-Chair), John Bartenstein (Secretary), Rod Cole, Rick Eurich, Pam Hoffman, David Kanter, Mike Kennealy, Eric Michelson, Rob Addelson (ex officio, non-voting) Also present for continued meeting: Charles Lamb and Ted Edson (Capital Expenditures Committee), Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths (School Committee) The Committee initially met jointly with the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee and the Capital Expenditures Committee for Budget Summit II. For a summary of matters discussed at the Summit meeting, please refer to the minutes of the Board of Selectmen. The Committee then continued its meeting, beginning at approximately 9:30 p.m., to discuss articles on the warrant for Special Town Meeting No. 1 (STM 1) and Special Town Meeting No. 2 (STM 2). The matters addressed in the continued meeting are summarized below. 1. STM 1, Article 2 (Amend FY2007 Operating Budget) Part (i), Additional Fee Revenue.This part of the article would allow the schools to spend fees already collected, and is a housekeeping item. The committee voted to support this appropriation 9-0. Part (ii), Supplemental Funds for Special Education. Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths provided background information on the origin and nature of supplemental liabilities that the School Department has incurred for special education since the conclusion of the 2006 Annual Town Meeting. The committee supported the School Committee’s proposal first to use all available surpluses within other parts of the school budget, as well as additional METCO monies that have recently been received, to defray the deficit. The committee voted to support funding the entire remaining deficit with supplemental FY07 revenue, as set forth by the Town Manager at the Summit, 9-0. Part (iii) Additional Unemployment Coverage. Additional unemployment insurance costs arose from the layoffs following the failed override. Rob Addelson reported that the exact amount was not yet known, but was expected to be approximately $52,800. He also reported his expectation that the full amount would be covered not by appropriating additional money, but by a surplus in the Group Insurance line item also resulting from the layoffs. Given that no additional appropriation of funds would be needed, the committee voted 9-0 in favor of this part of the article. - 1 -